“A subway will take traffic off some of the busiest streets in the city – try riding Muni on Stockton Street in the morning – and provide quick north-south access across the city, and it’s mostly paid for with federal funds. Who wouldn’t like something like that?”

So that was Nevius 2014. Now let’s check in with Nevius 2008 on the same exact topic:

“There’s really only one question to ask about the proposal to bore a light-rail subway deep under the heart of downtown San Francisco. You’re kidding, right?“

“Just the initial math makes your head hurt. Basically it works out to somewhere between $1.22 billion and $1.4 billion for an underground railway that runs for less than two miles and has only three stops. That’s not a transit system, it’s a model railroad.“

“Throw in a few of the inevitable cost overruns and this could work out to a billion dollars a mile.”

“No matter. This is the kind of big, splashy project that city officials love to put their name on.”

“Basically, the argument seems to boil down to this – we’ve got the money (as if federal tax dollars grow on trees), the Chinatown community is behind it, why not build it? Oh, let me count some of the reasons.”

“But, critics say, a stop on Market beneath which BART and other Muni lines already run might have made this whole thing an easier sell. That would have created an opportunity for a single station where riders could make connections between regional and local trains, almost like Grand Central Terminal in New York. Instead, riders will have to walk all the way up to Union Square.”

“Oh, and did I mention that in order to get under the BART tube, the subway station at Union Square will have to be at least 95 feet below the surface. That’s nine stories.”

“What is it about that image of deep, underground dirt-munching machines in earthquake country that makes me wince?”

So what do you think, Federales? You think you could see your way clear to coming to the 415 for the next week or so to investigate electoral corruption in San Francisco? Come on down to work a week in town. I just know that you’ll find something.

This will be your 11th course at The French Laundry (yes, Pixar used it as a model for the kitchen in Ratatouille) up in Napa: Feuillentine au Caramel. “Intense oozing,” baby. Serving the Commonweal never tasted so good:

SAN FRANCISCO – The well documented scene in Chinatown of Ed Lee IE campaign workers filling out ballots for voters and the Go Lorries money laundering scheme may seem tame in comparison to what two local newspapers documented in today’s paper.

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that a person known for “strong-arming tenants out of rent-controlled apartments” emailed associates of Archway Property Services directing them to attend a Lee fundraiser and telling them they would be reimbursed for their $500 contribution. Campaign finance laws prohibit money laundering.

Andrew Hawkins, the managing director of Archway Property Services, emailed 16 associates the following: “I expect each and every one of you to be at this event tonight. Bring your check books and write a check for $500.00 for Ed Lee donation. You will be reimbursed right away for you coming.”

In addition, the Epoch Times Chinese newspaper went undercover to find Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) and Community Tenant Association (CTA) staff also working on the Ed Lee campaign and even having keys to his office on Clay Street. In addition, the paper found various instances of CCDC, CTA, or Ed Lee campaign staff filling out and mailing voters ballots, in clear violation of law. Many of the ballots from these documented locations arrived at the Election’s Office at the same time.

“This is yet further evidence that we need state and federal election monitors now,” said Senator Leland Yee. “San Franciscans cannot afford to just wait out the clock until November 8. There appears to be massive voter fraud that should be immediately investigated to protect the integrity of this election. Either Ed Lee is condoning these illegal tactics or the wool is being pulled over his eyes – not what we need of our Mayor.”

Filling out their ballots

After describing themselves as prospective voters, two Epoch Times reporters were met by a Lee campaign worker who explained that her role with CTA included working on the Lee campaign.

The worker explained that “helping” voters in fact meant to simply have an elderly person sign and date their ballot, and then she or another campaign worker would take it away to fill it out and mail it in.

Using a nonprofit for campaign purposes

At 777 Broadway – a CCDC building – CTA is apparently running an office out of the community room in which they also distribute Ed Lee campaign literature and make announcements for meetings in support of Lee’s mayoral bid. CCDC says that political advertising is not allowed at their buildings.

Coincidental statistics

According to CCDC website, the 777 Broadway building includes 31 studio apartments. According to voter records, there are 33 registered voters of which 31 are vote by mail voters. This equates to nearly 94 percent of the voters being vote by mail. By comparison, the city at large is only 46 percent. And even as early as October 24, 60 percent of the 777 Broadway voters had already cast their ballots, versus only 6 percent for the rest of the city.

Equally troubling is the fact that 19 of the ballots from the building arrived at the Elections Office within a day of each other. In essence, the public is expected to believe that 1/3 of the ballots arrived at virtually the same time in complete coincidence.

A similar phenomenon exists with another CCDC building – 1590 Broadway – in which 20 absentee ballots arrived at the Election’s department on the exact same day, October 24.

More voter and election fraud

Epoch Times spoke to one elderly woman who sad that she was visited by a CTA worker and signed her ballot without filling it out and was told that it would be filled out for her and mailed in. Filling out and mailing in other people’s ballots is a clear violation of elections law.

A number of CTA and CCDC workers were observed “popping in and working alongside other staff” at Lee’s 943 Clay Street campaign office. In fact, one CCDC worker even had keys to the office and was observed opening the door for the undercover reporters.”

SAN FRANCISCO – Volunteers for Leland Yee’s campaign for mayor are hearing about and witnessing many instances of potential voter fraud and election violations conducted by Ed Lee’s campaign. Over the past several days, Yee’s volunteers have witnessed or heard from voters about at least six different incidents of voter fraud or intimidation.

“I am deeply concerned that the voting rights of individuals are being abused, seniors in subsidized housing are being taken advantage of, and laws that are meant to protect the integrity of the voting process are being ignored and circumvented,” said Yee.

Yesterday, the Bay Citizen and the San Francisco Chronicle reported on workers of an independent expenditure campaign for Ed Lee filling out ballots for voters and in some cases using a stencil which only allowed voters to cast their vote for Lee and no other candidate. The Ed Lee workers also collected dozens of vote-by-mail ballots from voters at the make-shift station.

“What we are hearing from the field is deeply concerning, not just for our campaign but for the integrity of this election and our democracy,” said Jim Stearns, Yee’s campaign manager. “We are encouraging individuals to report potential violations to the Department of Elections; unfortunately, our volunteers are witnessing that many voters are reluctant to speak out, because they are afraid of potential retaliation such as losing their housing.”

These incidents appear to be just the tip of the iceberg as Yee’s campaign volunteers and workers have also witnessed the following voter and election fraud:

At a number of Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) run housing complexes, residents told Yee workers that they turned their ballots over to their apartment managers. Volunteer Tommy Lin said, “Many residents told me they didn’t even know who they voted for, because their ballots were turned over before they were filled out.”

According to Yee worker Andy Li, at the federally-funded Senior Housing Complex on 441 Ellis St, residents were invited to the common room for help on how to fill out their absentee ballots, but were first treated to a projector video of commercials and videos of Ed Lee. Residents then were “assisted” by Ed Lee volunteers in filling out their absentee ballots.

In clear violation of election law, Bayview volunteers told Yee’s Field Director Anthony Thomas that they were paid $150 cash to walk precincts and do other voter contact in the neighborhood.

In a number of Filipino housing complexes, absentee ballots still have not arrived at residents’ homes, raising concerns that they may have been removed by apartment management. Yee is widely considered to be heavily favored in the Filipino American community.

A number of Ed Lee volunteers have attested that they were assigned to work on both Ed Lee’s official mayoral campaign as well as his various independent expenditure campaigns, raising serious issues of illegal coordination between the campaigns.

“It is imperative that the Elections Office, Ethics Commission, Secretary of State, District Attorney, Attorney General, and the US Attorney immediately investigate these various illegalities,” said Stearns. “Ed Lee and his comrades are already under investigation by the DA and US Attorney; it is now time for him to come clean for the good of San Francisco.”

—

Leland Yee is endorsed by the United Educators of San Francisco, California Nurses Association, Sierra Club, San Francisco Firefighters, AFSCME, SEIU, San Francisco Labor Council, and the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council. Yee immigrated to San Francisco at the age of 3. His father, a veteran, served in the US Army and the Merchant Marine, and his mother was a local seamstress. Yee graduated from the University of California – Berkeley, then earned a Ph.D. in Child Psychology, and later served in various mental health and school settings. He and his wife, Maxine, have raised four children who all attended San Francisco public schools. Yee has served in the State Legislature, Board of Supervisors and Board of Education.”

Thank Gaia Wheezie gave me time off from the Help Center this week, else I would have missed the big Senator Leland Yee Central Subway press conference.

And look who was there. See ’em?

1. Taciturn Bill Barnes – Ed Lee for Mayor Campaign Manager

2. Pugnacious Tony Winnicker – Ed Lee for Mayor Campaign Spokesperson (Boy, you give him your money and he won’t just sit around – he’ll hit the streets to fight for you.)

3. Corrupt Randy Shaw – Dictator for Life, Tenderloin

4. Others

I don’t know, if Ed Lee held a news conference about alleged corruption involving the San Francisco “City Family,” would a bunch of Leland Yee for Mayor managers show up to coach the media on what questions to ask (mind you, this is during the press conference) and also listen closely to every last syllable? Maybe. I kind of doubt it though.

Anyway, all the deets are below, but there’s no satisfying ending to this one – you’ll have to cool your heels to wait for the response from City Hall.

Senator Yee is giving The Powers That Be* ’til the end of the week to start turning over documents.

Click to expand

“Yee calls for sunshine into waste, fraud and abuse at CCDC – Says without full disclosure, Central Subway project could be threatened

SAN FRANCISCO – Senator Leland Yee, along with several city residents, today called on interim mayor Ed Lee to make public the details of all contracts for the past five years between the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA), city departments and Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) regarding the Central Subway.

Today, Yee also submit public records requests for all correspondence between the Mayor’s office or the City Administrator’s Office and CCDC or powerbroker Rose Pak.

Yee’s request comes after the San Francisco Chronicle unveiled several instances of waste, fraud and abuse by the nonprofit, including charging taxpayers $750 an hour to attend project meetings, $578 per visitor for outreach, and $25,000 to host a single community meeting.

By comparison, city contracts show payment to other entities for meeting attendance does not come close to what was received by CCDC. In fact, one contract for the city’s Arts Task Force showed a charge of 80 percent less, at $125/hour.

On the steps of City Hall and using a “golden” chair to represent the exorbitant cost the City paid for CCDC to attending meetings, Yee said, “As a strong supporter of the Central Subway, I am very concerned that possible malfeasance may jeopardize this important project. We need to get to the bottom of this immediately and the interim mayor needs to give the public the facts about these contracts.”

Yee said he expects Lee to provide the public documents regarding the Central Subway by the end of the week, at which time he will consider further action

This is not the first time Yee has fought to disclose public documents. Yee has become one of the State’s staunchest open government advocates, and last year, Yee made national headlines when he demanded the release of Sarah Palin’s speaking contract at California State University. Subsequently, students found parts of the contract along with shredded documents in the administration’s Dumpster, and Californians Aware successfully won a lawsuit against the University to fully disclose the contract.”

Or alternatively, Dennis Herrera Throws Down: Accurate Census Endangered by Postal Service SRO Policy – that was going to be the title originally. Anyway, the second-largest civilian employer in the United States, your U.S. Postal Service, apparently doesn’t have enough people to deliver the mail to the 19,000 San Franciscans residing in Single Room Occupancy units.

So, what letter carriers do is just dump the mail in a big pile in the lobby, let’s say in a big building with 100 units, and then split. The Post Office treats people living for years in the same place as if they’re hotel guests. Of course a lot of SROs don’t have lockable residential mailboxes, but the reason for that is that the PO just ignores them – it maintains a mail dump policy irregardless.

There’s a legal process going on right now that’s taking some time to resolve. Get all the deets on San Francisco’s action against the USPS here. (Let’s see, the PO’s motion to dismiss was denied and there’s been a couple of stabs at mediation so far.)

Herrera railed about the “incredibly irresponsible” postal service while Fong looked forward to “a day when everyone will get their mail.”

Oh yes, here’s another from Herrera:

“Someone in an SRO should have the same service as someone living in a condo in the St. Regis.”

(The only person I can think of who lives at the Reeg there on Third Street / Willie Way is former Mayor Willie Brown. Mmmmm.)

This is the building discussed today:

Inside, U.S. Census worker Jade Wu is not pleased that these census forms still haven’t gotten to the intended recipients:

And here’s an attempt at a residential mailbox:

Sure seems odd that one federal agency is getting impeded by another, however independent it is.

And it’s not just the census, it’s everything else you should be getting in the mail

Do Americans have a right to mail delivery?

We’ll see.

Counting SRO Tenants in the 2010 Census. Difficulties highlight discriminatory mail delivery policies being challenged by City Attorney’s lawsuit against U.S. Postal Service

SAN FRANCISCO (March 25, 2010)—City Attorney Dennis Herrera will join Chinatown Community Development Center representatives and tenants of single-room occupancy residential hotels, or SROs, to discuss the difficulties of assuring a complete count of every San Franciscan in the 2010 Census. Among the most daunting challenges facing those who do outreach to communities at-risk of being undercounted is a policy by the U.S. Postal Service’s postmaster in San Francisco that treats SROs like tourist hotels—refusing individual mail delivery, and directing local letter carriers to drop unsecured mail bundles near building entryways and at front desks. The discriminatory mail delivery policy is at the core of a federal lawsuit Herrera filed last May. To date, attorneys for the postal service have been unwilling to discuss policy changes that would treat residents of SROs like other residents.